• tab Nate stumbled backwards from the impact of Lance’s punch. Once he regained his balance, Nate brought his hand to his lip. When he pulled it back he wasn’t surprised to see that his fingers were stained with blood. He couldn’t let Lance get the upper hand. Wiping the remaining blood from his face, Nate ignored Jenna’s pleas to stop and charged at Lance again. Around him he could hear the crowd cheering him on, telling him to give Lance what he deserved. Reaching for his sword, Nate suddenly remembered that this wasn’t Fantasia that he was in the real world.
    tab Smirking, Lance reached out and grabbed Nate’s incoming fist and shoved him right off his feet and into the sand.
    tab Just beyond him, Nate could hear Jenna yelling at Lance to stop.
    tab Everything was happening so quickly. One minute he had been wining but now all Nate was doing was having the crap kicked out of him by Lance’s disgusting feet.
    tab This wasn’t supposed to be happening. He was a brave knight god damn it, not some worthless little weakling. Suddenly Nate felt himself being lifted off the ground. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back in the sand again. Lance had punched him in the eye.
    tab “Pathetic,” he sneered before walking away.
    tab While is body screamed in agony, all Nate could focus on was the fact that he had lost. But in Fantasia…in Fantasia this was impossible. But he wasn’t in Fantasia; he was in the real world where he was nothing more than the dirt under Lance’s over sized feet.
    tab Besides him he could hear Jenna, his princess crying. What was the point now; if he couldn’t even defeat someone like Lance then he didn’t deserve to call himself her boyfriend.
    tab His vision was starting to blur, probably from when Lance had kicked him in the side of his head. If only he was stronger, then he’d be worthy of being with Jenna. But he wasn’t.
    tab Nate closed his eyes, trying to block out the sound of her crying. He hated seeing her cry; especially when the tears were his fault.

    tab “What the hell were you thinking Porter?” The head lifeguard, Jim asked as he handed Nate a cold pack to press against his swollen eye.
    Ten minutes later, Nate was sitting inside the lifeguard’s lounge, a place he liked to refer to as the ‘fortress’. According to Jim, never before in his fifteen-year career had he ever seen a kid get his a** kicked so badly.
    “Come on Porter, enlighten me with your reason as too why you felt obligated to start a fight on my beach?”
    tab Nate looked glumly at the wooden floor. “He called my…” his voice trailed off, unsure if it was appropriate to still think of Jenna as his girlfriend, it wasn’t like deserved her now after losing to Lance. “He called my friend a whore,” he said firmly.
    tab Jim ran a hand over his tan face, “God damn it Porter, this a beach not a wrestling ring, where the hell is your common sense?” Sighing Jim stood up from the old beaten couch and paced around the room.
    tab “You know what I have to do now, right?”
    tab Alerted, Nate looked up, “You’re firing me?”
    tab Jim shook his head. “No since this is the first time you’ve done something like this. Unfortunately I am suspending you from the beach for a week.” Jim sat down besides Nate. “You’re a good kid, and a damn good swimmer, and I’d be absolutely crazy to fire you.”
    tab Nate glanced away. He knew that he should consider himself lucky to be getting off with just a week suspension, but he was too angry with himself to care. Catching his reflection in a mirror, Nate was disgusted at what he saw. Besides his eye, his lower lip was swollen as well. There were large bruises on his arms and his ribs hurt whenever he moved.
    tab Putting a hand on Nate’s shoulder, Jim kept on talking, not noticing Nate wince in pain. “I’m disappointed in you though cause I know that you know better then this. But as a friend,” he turned and smiled a toothy smile, “I say right on. That Lance kid parades around here like he’s king of the beach or some other s**t.”
    tab Nate didn’t smile back, all he was thinking about was how he could have failed. It shouldn’t have been this shocking. Sure he wasn’t exactly a skinny little a stick but he wasn’t bursting with muscles either. He should have at least been able to defend himself better.
    tab “You should probably get a move on, that girl that you were with looked really worried about you,” Jim announced as he got to his feet and led Nate out the door.
    tab “I’ll see you in a week kid’ he called from the top of the fortress steps.
    tab Climbing down the steps to where Jenna was, all Nate could think about was what Lance had said to him. Pathetic. Lance was right of course he was pathetic. Reaching the bottom, Nate kept on walking, he knew what was coming and he really didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to admit to himself that he had failed at protecting her.
    tab “Nate,” Jenna began but he shot her look that silenced her.
    tab Maybe it would better if she found someone else, someone that could actually defend her from the things that threatened to harm her. Not like him. Who was he kidding; he wasn’t a knight. He was just another weak and useless nobody who was so pathetic; he couldn’t even take care of the girl he loved.
    tab “Jenna, I don’t think you should go out with me,” Nate finally said as they reached the entrance to the castle.
    tab Jenna fell behind him, “Why…why would you say something like that?”
    tab Did he really have to spell it out for her? Had she not noticed his public humiliation that had occurred less than thirty minutes ago? Had she truly failed to see the loser he really was?
    tab “Because it’s true. You heard Lance, I’m pathetic remember? What’s the point of being with you if I can’t protect you from a jerk like him?”
    tab “I don’t understand why you feel like you have to protect me?” She had caught up with him and was blocking his path.
    tab He didn’t want to deal with this, not now at least, “Can we talk about this later?” Before she could even answer, he shoved past her.
    tab It was better this way. With him out of the way, she could find someone who she truly deserved to be with, someone who could keep her safe from anything that threatened to harm her. Maybe this was why he liked Fantasia so much. There, he could never get hurt and he would always win every battle. The princesses were imaginary which meant that there was no chance of him becoming attached to one of them. Heartbreak didn’t exist in Fantasia, not like it did in the real world.
    tab “Nate, please don’t walk away,” he heard Jenna cry but he kept walking.
    tab It was times like these, that he wished that Fantasia were a real place.

    tab “What the hell is Nate’s problem? Why does he feel like it’s his job to take care of me?”
    tab “That’s just who Nate is,” Cassidy replied from the kitchen were she was pouring herself something to drink, “he’s always been that way, thinking that it’s his job to stand up for the weak and defenseless.”
    tab Sighing, Jenna slid off of Cassidy’s couch and onto the carpeted floor. At first she had been nervous to tell Cassidy about Nate and her, but she quickly realized she didn’t have anything to worry about. Before she had even mentioned Nate’s name, Cassidy had guessed their entire situation, explaining that Nate’s been looking for a reason to attack Lance for years.
    tab “Don’t worry about Nate, he’ll realize how stupid he’s acting eventually, he always does,” Cassidy assured her. Then she walked over and sat down besides her.
    tab “Once when we were kids, we were playing on the beach when some older kid stole my pink shovel. I told Nate not to bother with it but he was determined to get it back for me,” Cassidy started laughing. “He followed that kid out into the water and demanded that he return to me. This kid must have been three times his size but Nate didn’t care. He wasn’t going to give up until he got it back.”
    tab Jenna sat up straighter, “What happened, did he get your shovel back?”
    tab Smiling, Cassidy shook her head cheerfully, “Nope, instead he got a bucket of sand poured down his pants. And even then, he still wanted to get my shovel back. Theo practically had to drag Nate off the beach to keep him from following that kid home. Later that day I kind of yelled at him. I told him that what he had done hadn’t been necessary, that it was just a stupid plastic shovel. You want to know what he said?”
    tab Jenna nodded eagerly.
    tab “He said, ‘It doesn’t matter, this kid stole something of yours and I’m not going to give up until I get it back’.”
    tab Apparently Nate had always been stubborn.
    tab Sighing, Cassidy took a sip of her drink before leaning against her couch, “A few days later he showed up at my front door, claiming that he had realized how stupid he had been acting."
    tab Though the story’s purpose had been to calm her down about Nate, Cassidy was comparing a plastic shovel theft to a Lance molesting her. The two situations had nothing in common. Nate wasn’t going to just let this go. Knowing him, even if it took twenty years, he’d still try and get back at Lance for what he did to her. Though she knew Lance deserved it, she wished that Nate would let her deal with it, instead of nearly getting himself killed trying.
    tab “Maybe I should go try talking to him again.”
    tab Nate’s apartment was on the eleventh floor, only three floors down.
    tab “Nah, if you try talking to him this early, he’ll just go on some long rant about trying to redeem his and your honor.” She stood up as well, “Trust me when I say this Jenna, Nate might be stubborn, but if he cares about you like I know he does, than he’ll be asking you out before the day is out.”
    tab Jenna still wasn’t convinced.
    tab “I promise, he’ll come around.”
    tab She wanted to believe her, but Jenna couldn’t see how she could. Cassidy hadn’t been there to hear how serious Nate’s voice had sounded. He had sounded so sure of himself when he had told her not to go out with him that she couldn’t possibly imagine him changing his mind.
    tab Glancing at her watch, Jenna sighed. “I got to go, Dahlia wanted me home early tonight cause she’s having prospective husband number four over for dinner.”
    tab Giggling, Cassidy showed her to the door, “Well good luck meeting your future grandpa,” she joked as she waved goodbye.
    tab Walking towards the elevator, Jenna leaned against the wall while she waited for it to arrive.
    tab It wasn’t fair. Why was it Nate’s decision on whether they went out or not? She didn’t care if he couldn’t defeat Lance; she had never expected him too. Jenna wanted to know where he had gotten it into his head, that the only way he could be her boyfriend was if he could protect her from everything that threatened to harm her. If anything, she wished he’d let her fight her own battles. She couldn’t be this sad weak little girl anymore, she had to show the world that she wasn’t afraid, wasn’t afraid to have a guy touch her arm, or get within five feet of her.
    tab When she returned home, Dahlia’s guest had already arrived.
    tab “This is Arnie,” she beamed as she introduced Jenna to an elderly man with a white powder puff hair.
    tab “Very nice to meet you young lady,” he grinned as he squeezed her hand tightly.
    tab After the introductions were over, Dahlia handed Jenna a few bills.
    tab “What’s this for?”
    tab “Dinner. I figured that if a certain somebody were to stop by, he might find the place a little crowded with me and Arnie here.”
    tab She was talking about Nate. Who else could she be referring too?
    tab “We’ll be back a little after ten, just enough time for you and your little friend to get comfy with one another. Keep an eye on those hormones, don’t want to be creating something that you’re going to regret making later,” she sang before waving goodbye.
    tab And then she was alone. Placing the money on the table, Jenna went into her room and closed the door. Pulling out the jacket that Nate had given her, Jenna put it on before lying down and closing her eyes.
    tab Nate didn’t come that night, or the night after that.
    tab For a whole week she waited but he never came to see her. During the day, she hung out with Cassidy and Theo, whenever Nate was brought up into their conversation, Cassidy would quickly change the subject. He was avoiding her, something that Jenna had figured he would do. But even if she did see him, what would she say? She was mad at him, angry that he had given up without even trying.
    tab Of course, they lived in the same building and were bound to run into one another eventually. When that day came, Jenna found herself hiding behind a tree, just so Nate wouldn’t see her. She felt foolish for acting like this. A part of her wanted to march over to him and yell at him, tell him that he was acting like an immature child. Yeah he had lost in his fight against Lance, but to have the guts to even consider fighting someone like him certainly made him worthy enough for her. Besides it wasn’t like she was all that great to begin with.
    tab Suddenly Jenna realized that she was standing in front of him. He was staring at her as if he didn’t know her.
    tab “Nate, remember all those negative qualities you told me about? Well I don’t care if you’re not popular, sarcastic, or even shoved into lockers. Despite all that I still want to go out with you.” Nate was still staring at her, his green eyes wide as if he hadn’t understood a word she had said. Compared to the last time she had seen him, his face looked about forty times better. His lip was no longer swollen though she could make out the faintest traces of a bruise right underneath his eye.
    tab Sinking down onto the bench that he was sitting on, Jenna sighed, “Please Nate, you don’t have to be a knight in shining armor to impress me.”
    tab Then she waited, waited for Nate to respond or even show some form of indication that he had even heard her. But as groups of people walked past them, they continued to sit in silence, Nate staring off into space like he didn’t know that she was there. This was what she had been afraid of, Nate’s pride. Knowing him, he’d probably never talk to her again, not until he had exacted his revenge. She might as well give up, there was nothing she could say to change Nate’s stubborn mind.
    tab “….seven thirty.”
    tab Startled Jenna looked up from where she had been looking and saw that Nate had gotten to his feet and was glancing out at the water.
    tab “Meet me in the lobby at seven thirty tomorrow night though I’m warning you, don’t keep your hopes up. Chances are you’ll end up hating me before we even get to dessert.”
    tab Though Nate’s expression was unreadable, Jenna could tell from his tone that he had apprehensions about his decision.
    tab And then without saying anything else, he shoved his hands into his jeans and walked away. Jenna watched him until he had disappeared before letting out the breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding. Though she could tell that this was perhaps the last thing that Nate wanted to do, she couldn’t help but smile. Tomorrow night she would prove to him once in for all that she didn’t care what his social status was, if she didn’t, than she was afraid that he might never talk to her again. Why could he accept the fact that she liked him for who he was?
    tab Ever since that day on the beach, he had been trying to get her to trust him. Well now it was time that he learned to trust her, trust her when she said that she didn’t care about any of those stupid things that he believed he needed to be to have the right to go out with her. This could be her only chance to show him that and if she failed, then she wasn’t sure how she could get through the rest of the summer?

    tab “Come on Nate, you’ve fought ogres and trolls. You’re a knight of Fantasia whose looked death straight in the eye, you can manage a simple…a simple…” he couldn’t say it.
    tab Stealing another look at his reflection in his bathroom mirror, Nate still felt like something was out of place. Once more, he was talking to himself, usually not a good a sign. But for the last hour that was all he had been doing, talking to himself. And yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to say that word.
    tab This thing with Jenna, he had tried his hardest to avoid getting to this point. For the last week, all he had been doing was trying to avoid her and think of ways to get back at Lance. In times like these, he often would go to Cass because she knew how to talk him out of doing something like this, but of course he couldn’t go talk to her, too many chances of running into Jenna. So instead, he had spent the last seven days hanging with Theo. While helping him clean his house while his mom slept, Nate spent most of the time talking about Lance and to Theo’s utter disapproval, Jenna.
    tab “You already know my opinion of her,” Theo had said one day while they were washing his kitchen floor, “talk to Cass if you want advice on fixing your mistake.”
    tab He knew that all this Jenna talk was torture to his friend. Even if Theo let Jenna join in with their game, Nate knew that deep down that Theo despised Jenna with every fiber of his being.
    tab “I can’t talk to Cass, what if I run into her while I’m there?”
    tab Of course, he couldn’t avoid her forever, and in the end Jenna had managed to run into him. And now that she had found him, he had somehow ended up asking her out, the last thing he ever wanted to do.
    tab As much as he cared about her, he wasn’t even close to boyfriend material. That day at the beach, he had thought he had made himself clear. Hadn’t he told her to give up on them ever becoming a couple? Even if he had, it didn’t matter now. Tonight he was going out with Jenna and he had no way of getting out of it. Of course, he had warned her in advance. Before the night was through, she would finally realize what he had been trying to get her to see the entire time, that he was completely the wrong guy for her.
    tab Glancing at his watch he saw that he only had a few minutes before he had to meet her in the lobby. Taking one more look in the mirror Nate wondered if he should try to do something about his hair. Most of the time it looked bad, but for some reason tonight it had chosen to look especially awful. No matter what he did, his hair insisted on lying right in front of his eyes and standing up in the back of his head. Maybe he should have taken his mother’s advice, get it cut.
    tab “Maybe then people can see your wonderful face?”
    tab As bad as his hair was, he liked it at the length it was, rather then the buzzed cut he knew his mother desperately wanted him to get.
    tab Turning the faucet on, Nate wet his hands and ran them through his hair one last time. An improvement but still it still looked bad.
    tab “Alright, let’s do this,” he whispered before turning off the light and walking out of his bathroom.
    tab Thankfully, his mother wasn’t home, the same going for his father. They would both make sure that he never lived this down. Grabbing his house key off the counter, he left a note telling his family that he’d be back around ten and if later, he’d give them a call.
    tab “Where are you off to this fine evening?”
    tab Nate didn’t bother turning around to look at his older sister who was sitting on the floor repainting her nails.
    tab “Nowhere important.”
    tab Behind him he could hear Diana putting a bottle of nail polish on the coffee table. “Let’s see, you’re better dressed than normal, your hair looks like you actually attempted to style it and I saw you stuffing two twenty dollar bills into your pocket earlier. So, either you suddenly decided to have friends again or somebody has a date tonight.”
    tab This was why he hated it whenever his sister came home from college. Diana would just have to glance at him to know what he was up to.
    tab “So what if it is a date? It’s not that big of a deal,” he replied as he doubled checked that he had everything he needed.
    tab Diana had gotten up off the floor and walked over to him, waving her hands in the air trying to get the nail polish to dry, “Oh but that’s where you’re wrong little brother. I have a vague memory of you saying back when you were in ninth grade that you’d never date again, not until college at least. Why the sudden change?”
    tab Glancing back he gave his sister the look he always gave her whenever he didn’t feel like talking.
    tab “Oh yes, the signature Nate scowl, that’ll just sweep the ladies right of their feet won’t it.” Diana took one of her dry hands and brushed it through his hair a few times, making it look even worse than it had before. “We’re going out tonight so you’ll have the house till about eleven. Mom wants to go out and spend the evening with the family since I’m hardly ever home.”
    tab Nodding, Nate tried to block out the rest of what his sister was saying.
    tab “I hope you know about mom’s policy about bringing girls home,” she yelled right at the exact moment he closed the door in her face.
    tab Of course he knew her policy about bringing girls home. Just because he hadn’t in a few years didn’t mean he was immune to his mother’s monthly talk about the differences between boys and girls and why it was very important to never be alone with them in an empty house, god forbid he suddenly became a complete idiot and decided that he wanted to give parenthood a try.
    tab And now thanks to Diana, he was late for his…for his…
    tab “s**t,” he told himself as he stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. It was a simple word, so why couldn’t he say it? Slouching against the wall, Nate couldn’t understand why he had agreed to do this. In the end he’d knew it’d be a disaster.
    tab When the doors finally opened, he dashed out into the lobby, hoping that he wasn’t too late.
    tab “Nate, over here.”
    tab Before taking a deep breath Nate reminded himself for the umpteenth that tonight he couldn’t let his mind wander into Fantasia because things like this didn’t exist there, this and along with alcohol and drugs. Focusing on the reality he so often ignored, Nate slowly turned around; bracing himself for what he knew was coming.
    tab She looked perfect, the complete opposite of him. Her hair was down, the way he liked it best, and had a slight wave rippling through it. As she crossed the room to meet him, her skirt moved fluidly along with her and looked good with the deep blue tank top that she wore. In one hand she held a small purse, the other, the jacket that he given to her. It was strange that it felt so long ago that he had given her that jacket.
    tab “Where are we going?” she sounded excited, as if she had been waiting for the moment for weeks.
    tab Leading her outside, Nate headed towards town rather than the boardwalk, “Nowhere fancy if that’s what you had in mind.” Truthfully he was taking her to his favorite Chinese restaurant, not exactly the most romantic place he could take a girl but it had been a good two, almost three years since he had gone on a date. Inside, Nate felt himself relax, having at last accepted the fact that he, Nate Porter, was going on a date.
    tab While they walked through the quiet streets of White Sands, Jenna spent most of her time taking in the sights. In Nate’s opinion, there wasn’t anything truly remarkable about the town but apparently to Jenna, it was the greatest place she had ever been.
    tab “Where’s the high school?” They had just walked into the restaurant and were being seated.
    tab Taking the menus from their waiter’s hands, he handed her one. “About four blocks from here. The school isn’t that big since White Sands is mostly a tourist town.”
    tab Watching Jenna go over the menu, Nate was trying to keep his mind busy so he wouldn’t think about Fantasia. He knew that as soon as he started thinking about that place, he’d never be able to pull his head back out of the clouds. Concentrating on what he was ordering, Nate tried to ignore the fairies and elves that were moving throughout the restaurant. If he ignored them, then he was sure that they would go away, but then again this was one of the few times that he was actually preventing himself from seeing Fantasia.
    tab Luckily Jenna kept his attention focused as she talked about her town in South Hallow and her high school. Nate noticed that she completely avoided any conversation that brought up friends as a subject. From what she had told him, South Hallow was nestled between two huge hills that when Jenna had been younger, she had been convinced were mountains. While swimming was the popular sport where he lived, snowboarding and hockey were big in South Hallow.
    tab “Every year, the school hosts a ski trip on one of the hills, it’s a popular trip that almost half the school goes out for,” Jenna explained as she took a spoonful of wanton soup.
    tab So far things were turning out ok. Nate had yet to make a fool out of himself and for once felt like he and Jenna belonged with one another.
    tab He had just started telling her about his school’s annual play fest when suddenly he saw something move in the far corner of the restaurant. It was a goblin, a big, ugly goblin licking its long wart covered hand.
    tab Before he could stop himself, the room changed. Instead of a Chinese restaurant, he was sitting in the middle of dungeon, on the opposite side of him Jenna had transformed into the princess she truly was. He too had changed, wearing amour and his sword at his side.
    tab Crap, he thought as the goblin waved at him before turning its grey eyes over at the princess and licked its green lips. He had to stop thinking about Fantasia, that was only way it would go away.
    tab “Is everything alright?” The princess, no, Jenna asked, looking at him concerned.
    tab “Fine, something just flew into my eye,” he lied before excusing himself from the table.
    tab Once he was in the bathroom, he threw water onto his face, hoping that the coldwater shock would snap him out of his dream world. Gazing at his reflection, Nate watched the dungeon melt away until he was back in the real world. That had been close, a few moments longer and he would have been watching that goblin for the rest of the night.
    tab When he got back to his seat, his meal had arrived. While they both ate, they exchanged stories of past summers. Most of the stories were funny and he enjoyed watching Jenna’s face light up with laughter. Suddenly, he forgot why he hadn’t wanted to go out with her though he quickly remembered the reason. But what Jenna had said to him about not caring about his flaws banished all of his negative thoughts and by the time the check came, he was sure that this was what he wanted.
    tab As they walked back towards the apartment, Nate cautiously wrapped his arm around her and to his relief; Jenna rested her head on his shoulder before taking his other hand in hers.
    tab “Still have doubts about us?” He could tell from the smile that she could hardly contain the fact that she was joking. She knew perfectly well that he had absolutely no doubts about their relationship. Though he was still angry about losing to Lance, Nate decided that he would let it go, for now at least.
    tab They reached the front entrance and before they walked in, he turned her so she was facing him. “None what so ever,” and then he was kissing her, relishing every moment of her lips pressed against his.
    tab One way or another, they had somehow managed to make it to his apartment, completely missing hers by about seven floors. They were still lip-locked when they stumbled into his bedroom. Nearly tripping over the books and clothes that scattered his messy floor, Nate regretted not cleaning it as he and Jenna made their way towards his bed. After banging his knee into the side of his bed, he carefully lay Jenna down while he continued to kiss her passionately. This was another thing about Fantasia. It didn’t have sex.
    tab He had just begun to move his hands under her shirt when he suddenly felt Jenna tense up in his arms.
    tab “I’m sorry,” she whispered and even though it was dark, he could see that she had folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not ready for this.”
    tab It would be wrong to say that he was mad; in fact he should have expected this. After all, the last time she slept with somebody, it had been against her will.
    tab “It’s alright,” and that was true. Not once had he even imagined that the evening would go this far and he knew that he should be grateful for it. If all she wanted to do was kiss, than he was just fine with that. “I can wait.”
    tab Thirty minutes later, he was standing outside Jenna’s door. For the first time in his life, things were going his way and he wasn’t even in Fantasia.
    tab “I had a lot of fun,” she smiled, pulling her now messy hair into a loose ponytail.
    tab “Me too,” stepping closer, he gave her one final kiss before detaching himself from her arms.
    tab All this time, he had been trying to avoid the real world but now he kind of regretted it. If someone had told him that the real world could be just as exciting as Fantasia, he would have tried harder to keep his imagination from getting the best of him.
    tab As Nate stepped into the elevator, he couldn’t help but smile. He had to add something to the list of things that Fantasia didn’t have. Love.